WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia Episode 86: "Let it Flow! School Festival!" now streaming on Funimation, Crunchyroll, Hulu and VRV.
The School Festival arc of My Hero Academia concludes with a beautiful performance from Class 1-A, but the whole affair would have fallen apart had Midoriya not stopped Gentle Criminal and La Brava from breaking into U.A. In a last act of heroism, Gentle Criminal turns himself in after being confronted with the consequences of his own selfishness. He also makes an attempt to try and keep La Brava from facing penalties thanks to his own actions, showing appreciation to Midoriya in the process.
But is this really the end of the road for the two supervillains? While their arc is now complete, there may be a chance we'll see Gentle Criminal and La Brava return, not as villains to pester Midoriya once more, but rather, as heroes.
Where Does Episode 86 Leave Gentle Criminal & La Brava?
By the end of the episode, both La Brava and Gentle Criminal have been arrested by the police. Gentle, realizing that La Brava will be held accountable for his crimes, insists that he brainwashed La Brava into being in love with him. Absolutely no one believes this, especially not the police.
Midoriya, rather than turn in Gentle as if he were any other villain, tells the other Pro-Heroes that Gentle was planning on pulling a harmless prank on U.A., which will no doubt reduce whatever sentence he receives.
In the closing credits, both La Brava and Gentle are being interrogated by the police. However, the police seem more impressed with the two than legitimately angry. They're particularly enthralled with La Brava's computer and video editing skills, crouching around a computer and showering her with praise. The officer interrogating Gentle, meanwhile, comments on his record as an aspiring hero.
When the officer suggests that Gentle now has a second chance at fixing his life and accomplishing his dreams, the villain actually starts crying, as if relieved. They even offer him tea to comfort his spirits (though, unfortunately, they only have cheap tea).
How Is This Different Than The Usual Villain Endings?
By this point, multiple villains have been arrested in My Hero Academia without ever returning in any meaningful fashion. Stain, All For One, and several members of the League of Villains have, after their appearances, gone to prison, never to be seen again. Others, like Overhaul, have suffered even worse fates, being not only arrested by also left utterly powerless.
More than simply being defeated, however, these characters reached the end of their respective arcs. Stain and All For One remain powerful symbols in the story and their actions continue to have consequences. Overhaul's actions have had seismic impacts on the story, with Eri still in recovery, Togata still Quirkless, and Shigaraki still in possession of a weapon that can erase Quirks.
By contrast, Gentle Criminal's impact on the series seems relatively small. His actions could have prevented Eri from finding happiness or U.A. from gaining respect for Class 1-A through their performance had his invasion closed the School Festival down. However, nothing he did really effected anything. The arc was more defined by what he was kept from doing.
This begs the question: if his actions were largely inconsequential, why was he in the story at all? No villain in My Hero Academia is ever wasted. So what is Gentle Criminal's role?
What Gentle Criminal's Future Could Hold
One of the main tenants of My Hero Academia's philosophy is going beyond limitations. It's right there in the series' mantra: "Go beyond plus ultra!" Gentle Criminal fits this ethos perfectly. Here we have someone who was prevented from being a hero despite constantly trying; his objectives became twisted due to his own shortcomings, mistakes and adversities.
In many respects, he resembles Midoriya himself. Both Midoriya and Gentle have huge dreams of being heroes but both were kept from achieving their dreams by circumstances outside of their control. However, while Midoriya met All Might and had a chance at being a hero, Gentle never did. This parallel is so obvious that it's even one of the reasons Midoriya feels some sympathy for Gentle -- even after their fight.
An important evolution of this idea could be Midoriya's actions creating a hero out of a villain. We see over the course of the series that heroism has many forms, but unless we see how Midoriya's actions can redeem those society sees as evil, then all of this talk of heroism won't matter in the long run.
What About La Brava?
La Brava's entire reason for following Gentle Criminal is that she loves him for helping her find direction in her life. Gentle Criminal even comments once they're captured that, without him in her life, La Brava might become an even worse criminal if left directionless and alone.
Many of the villains who join the League of Villains feel like outsiders in a society that follows a strict, systematic hero/villain binary. Despite this, there are many heroes, such as Bakugo and Shinso, who have stereotypically villainous personality traits and/or powers. As a result, people expect them to be villains -- even the League of Villains, as seen when they kidnap Bakugo -- but their noble spirits prevent them from ever falling.
La Brava doesn't have that. She's an incredibly lonely, depressive girl who follows the person she loves because he gives her direction. If left on her own, she might become a valuable resource for Shigaraki to exploit. However, if Gentle Criminal finds redemption, La Brava may as well because of their bond, which is why it's important for Gentle Criminal to achieve his original dream so that both wayward souls can find a positive direction in their lives.
As it stands, My Hero Academia's manga has yet to feature a return from either villain. However, characters like Shinso, Mei and various other U.A. classmates outside of Class 1-A had been MIA for the past several seasons of the anime, only to return in a big way in this arc. It's possible there might be a long stretch of time where neither Gentle Criminal or La Brava reappear but, if and when they do, we may well see the positive influence Midoriya has had on their lives and, hopefully, they can offer their reformed assistance when the heroes need them most.